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EL J. BROOKS.

(NohModeL) SEAL LOCK.

No. 393,688. Patented Nov. 27, 1888.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDWARD J. BROOKS, OF EAST ORANGE, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO THE E. J. BROOKS & COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

SEAL-LOCK.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 393,688, dated November 27, 1888.

Application filed June 15, 1888. Serial No. 277,186.

To aZZ whom it may concern-.-

Be it known that I, EDWARD J. BROOKS, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of East Orange, in the State of New Jersey, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Seal-Locks, of which the following is a specification.

This invention is additional to my improvement in seal-locks patented June 14, 1887, (United States Patent No. 364,892,) and its primary object is to adapt the bolt parts of such locks, as well as their seal parts or seals proper, to be made of transparent glass or the like, so as to more fully expose to view the internal fastening, to facilitate thorough inspection.

Additional objects of the invention are to' provide the bolt with a paper label, so that the same is at once protected from the weather and effectively exposed to view; also, to combine with frangible seal and bolt parts a spring fastening in one part of wire; also, to so form a double fastening, and, finally, to prevent reproducing such fastening part in case it alone should be broken in tampering with the lock.

The invention consists in certain novel combinations of parts hereinafter set forth and claimed, whereby said objects,respectively, are accomplished.

A sheet of drawings accompanies this specifieation as part thereof.

Figure 1 of these drawings is a face viewof the two main parts of one of my improved seal-locks, with an appended section of the bolt-head. Figs. 1 and 1" are detail views of its spring-fastening detached,on a larger scale. Fig. 2 is a sectional face view of said seal-lock with its parts united to secure a railway-car door. Fig. 3 represents a top view of the seal part, showing the bolt in cross-section. Fig. 4 is a side view of the two main parts of another of my improved seal-locks,illnstrating the fastening operation. Fig. 5 is an end view of the seal part detached, and Fig. 6 represents a vertical longitudinal section of the fastened seal-lock. Fig. 7 representsa substitute fastening device, which may be used in my improved seal-locks. Fig. 8 is aback view of another of my improved seal-locks, illus- (No model.)

trating certain additional modifications, and Fig. 9 represents atop view of its seal part, showing across-section of the bolt.

Like letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several figures.

My improved seal-lock in each form comprises a seal part, A, a headed bolt, B, the smaller end of which is inserted into said seal part, and a fastening or connecting part, G,by which the parts A and B are inseparabl y united when properly brought together after the application of the lock to a staple, S, to secure a hasp, H, thereon, or its application otherwise like other seal'locks of the bolt type.

I have discovered that by adapting them to be pressmolded with not more than two movements of the mold parts the bolts B, as well as the seal parts A, can be so cheaply made of transparent glass as to render the substitution of glass for iron entirely feasible should both parts he used only once. In the accompanying drawings all the seal parts A and bolts B are adapted to be so molded, and each is intended and adapted to receive in the molds any desired lettering or marks, as illustrated by St. Paul, Fig. l.

Recesses z y in the seal parts A and bolts B, respectively, inclose and coact with the fastening parts 0, which are exposed to view in the fastened locks by the transparency of the parts A and B, as illustrated in Figs. 2, 3, 8, and 9. The transparency of the bolts B adapts them also to inclose and expose to view paper labels D, upon which supplemental marks. such as road initials, serial numbers, and the like, illustrated by O. M. &S. 1 Fig. 1,and XRR, Fig. 8-are conveniently printed.

In the species represented by Figs. 1 to 3, inclusive,said label D is accommodated within a recess, 00, in the head of the bolt B, open at its back. The recess y in the bolt, which accommodates the fastening O, is a round hole extending transversely through the stem of the bolt. This stem is round in cross-section and is consequently provided with longitudinal turn-resisting flanges or wings w, theseal part A being provided with matching internal grooves, 11, whichextend downward to its recess 2. By arranging a pair of said grooves as shown, they serve also to conduct the ends of a double fastening part, 0, into said recess in effective position. The recess a is open at the back of the lock, like said recess 0:, and access to the fastening part within it is prevented by the side of the car or a like-fixed surface, against which the seal part hangs. The double fastening O is made of wirein the form ofaspiral spring with protruding straight ends in line with each other to eoaet with the shoulders, which are formed by the intersections ofsaid grooves 12 with said recess .2. To prevent readily duplicating it in case this part should be broken in tampering with the lock, it is made of detector-wire, and preferably flat wire bot-twisted, so as to have alternating llat porti'onsin different planes, and hardened in this shape, as illustrated by Figs. 1 and 1". It may equivalently be made of my indented round wire, patented June 27, 1876, (United States Patent No. 179,260,) or of wire of any preferred section so twisted, indented, or otherwise peculiarly treated as to render its duplication difficult or impossible. By flattening a central coil of the spiral, as illustrated by dotted lines in Figs. 1 and 1", the fastening may be rendered tight at this point within the recess y, so as to prevent its accidental escape before the parts A and B are united,while the outer coils are free to expand circumferentially when the spiral is collapsed endwise in the act of uniting the parts preparatory to the protrusion of its ends within the recess 2.

The fastened lock is opened by breaking either of the parts A B. By requiring the return of the other part with the fastening O two-thirds of the lock may be used repeatedly.

The modified seal-lock represented by Figs. 4, 5, and Gis designed for use in horizontal position, as represented. The fastening-recess s in the seal part A is formed in its bottom, and is adapted to contain the body of the fastening O, which in this case has a single protruding end, the fastening-recess y in the bolt B being fitted to the latter and formed in the lower side or bottom of the bolt. In addition to its opening in line with the fastened bolt the seal part A has an opening, a, in its top, which admits a relatively narrow terminal portion, 1/, of the bolt in the act of uniting the parts, as illustrated by Fig. 4.. Consequently by first applying the seal part vertically, as represented by the arrow a, the fastening may be compressed by means of said terminal portion t of the bolt. Then an endwise movement, as represented by the arrow a, brings the fastening C in line with the rccessy in the bolt, and the bolt end fully into the main recess of the seal part, in which position the lock becomes automatically fastened. The fastened lock is shown in Fig. 6. The parts A B are angular in cross-section to prevent turning either part. A shoulder, s, at the bottom of the bolt B prevents access to the fasteningC after the lock is fastened. Otherwise the shouldered shapes of the parts A B are not material.

In the modified lock represented by Figs. 8 and 9 the parts A B interlock according to my said previous invention, patented June 14, 1887, the bolt having external lateral recesses,1', into which lips q on the seal part slide. The fiistening recess 1 of the bolt B is axial,and the matching-recess z in the seal part A is consequently formed in its bottom, and both are preferably ofthe full diameter of the spiral spring which constitutes the fastening O. The label D is wrapped around the upper end of the spring and exposed to view through the stem of the bolt, while it serves additionally to hold the spring in place before the parts are united. An internal surface, 12, be hind the fastening-recess facilitates compressing the fastening in the act of bringing the lips (1 in line with the lateral recesses r. The seal part A is finally pressed backward into position, the fastening (J springs into the recess a, and the lock thus becomes secure.

I propose in some cases to use substitutes for the fastening O,made partlyof transparent glass or the like, as illustrated by Fig. 7, in which 0 represents a glass pin surrounded by a spiral of wire to strengthen it for use in connection with a projecting spring or in locks like the one represented by Figs. 8 and 9, in which the fastening may close by gravity.

Other like modifications, including various immaterial changes of shape and proportions, will suggest themselves to those skilled in the art.

As substitutes for transparent glass, I propose using transparent celluloid, artificial isinglass, and the like, and my fastenings C may be used in connection with frangible bolts and seal parts of pottery or other material.

Having thus described my said improvement in seal-locks, I claim as my invention and desire to patent under this specification 1. A seal-lock comprising a bolt and seal part, both of which are transparent, and an internal fastening which is thus exposed to View within the fastened lock, substantially as hereinbefore specified.

2. In aseal-lock, a recessed transparent bolt containing a card or label which is exposed to View through the front of the bolt, substantially as hereinbefore specified.

3. In a seal-lock, the combination of frangible seal and bolt parts having fastening recesses which are in line with each other in the fastened lock and a fastening composed wholly of flexible wire in the form of a spiral spring, substantially as hereinbefore specified.

4. In a seal-lock, the combination of a bolt having a stem provided with a transverse hole, a seal part having a main recess which receives said stem, and a fastening-containing recess open at its back, which crosses said main recess, and a double fastening in the form of a spiral spring ofwire having straight ends in line with each other which protrude therewith, one or both of said main parts into the fastening-recess last named, substanbeing frangible, substantially as hereinbefore tially as hereinbefore specified. specified.

5. The within-described fastening in the EDWARD J. BROOKS. 5 form of a spiral spring of detector-wire, in Witnesses:

combination with the two main parts of aseal- HENRY L. G. WENK, lock recessed t0 inciose the sameand coact NORMAN S. KLINE. 

